July 24, 2018

From July 9-20, Future Founders hosted our annual “Be Your Own Boss” Summer Entrepreneurship Camp to teach CPS high school students all the skills they need to create and pitch their own business ideas to investors. During the camp, students developed entrepreneurial skills, explored the Chicago entrepreneurial ecosystem, created mobile app concepts, and most importantly, had fun!

We also awarded $15,000 in college scholarships thanks to the generous support of the Ford Motor Company Fund.

Congratulations to the future founders who created scholarship winning apps:

Kendall Hester (Whitney M. Young Magnet High School), Nigel Jacobs (Lindblom) & Melanie Sanchez (Fenton High School), Founders of StreetSpot, an app that provides information about available street parking and pricing to drivers in urban centers.

Jada McDuffey (Baker College Prep), Alan Phung (Lincoln Park High School) & Dorothy Jean Tillman (Excelsior College) & Miles Ziol (Lycee Francais), Founders of Square One, an app which connects high school students with career development and training opportunities.

Huge thanks to all of the “investors” who listened to student pitches and provided meaningful feedback:

Amal Amaskane – Match Langua (2018 Resident)

Mike Black – told media (2017 Fellow)

Carson Goodale – FanFood (2018 Fellow)

Diana Lopez-Obaldo – 1871

Reva Minkoff – Digital4Startups

Gopal Rajaraman – Motorola Solutions Venture Capital

Tony Reinhart – Ford Motor Company

Sean Smyth – Smart Bet Charity & PechaKucha

Katie Sowa – Future Founders

Ross Venhuizen – Motorola Solutions

Thanks to all of the people who made the camp such a transformative experience for our students. A special shoutout to LEAP Innovations and 1871 for being so welcoming to our students and for hosting all camp activities!

Look forward to inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs with you!